Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series) Heightened Emotions (2016) User Reviews

Disorder

[yazguloner · 7/10 · 24 January 2022]

I love the guest actress, her performance is very good.

However, the story is like a subject from another series.

The Bippolar issue was brought together with Rollins' sister.

Can escorts be raped? About bipolar disorder?

So she deserves the rape... there is instability on the subject.

It is a section whose main idea and main message is not clear.

It is one of the controversial sections open to interpretation.

Curious Character Study Of An Olympic Wannabe

[stp43 · 6/10 · 13 October 2016]

SVU takes an interesting turn as an Olympic hopeful gets assaulted while the squad's Amanda Rollins faces her own potential headache.

The nuts and bolts of the criminal case are secondary to the mini-character study of Jenna Miller (Brit Morgan), an Olympic wannabe whose introduction comes as she brutally trains on a treadmill in her living room with her husband and child watching; that night she goes on a girl's night out downtown and soon meets business sleaze Michael Wheeler (an effective Theo Stockman); next thing we see is Jenna, her expensive dress torn between her legs and obvious bruises on her calves, vaulting between two buildings and incoherently screaming to a black-and-white that she won.

While this is starting Amanda Rollins is tending to a parole hearing for her ne'er do well sister Kim (Lindsay Pulsipher); she is released on parole and stays with Amanda, and Amanda is not in the mood for any shenanigans from Kim (Olivia Benson, herself with experience with wayward siblings, isn't either, threatening to yank Amanda's badge if Kim screws this up), especially as Kim must help take care of Amanda's child.

The accusation against Wheeler is investigated and it doesn't take much to establish him as guilty, but where everything starts going awry is when Jenna Miller in essence refuses to press charges because if word of this gets out she will lose her chance at the next Olympics and resultant endorsement deals. Even when she agrees to wear a wire to try and smoke out a confession from Wheeler that gets botched when Jenna's husband barges in and confronts Wheeler.

Though Jenna is clearly the victim, she is a curiously unsympathetic character for refusing to press charges and for the ridiculous obsession with an Olympic dream (and endorsement deals) that never comes across as plausible. In several spots it is stated she missed the Rio games on a technicality, yet this comes across as something tacked on by the writers to provide some sympathy for Jenna, and she makes it worse when she has to be in court and erupts in a full-undress meltdown on the stand.

The reason why only becomes apparent at the end and winds up tying into the subplot with Kim. Amanda's ne'er do well sis lives up to the promise of working to stay straight, and perhaps the strongest scene in the episode comes when Amanda winds up with egg on her face upon learning something Kim hadn't told her yet.

It all adds up to an interesting character study.

Kim Rollins...

[difollac · 2/10 · 25 August 2018]

Someone just shoot her, stab her or push her off a bridge once and for all. Lord Jesus, whatever it takes! She and her recurring story line are beyond eye roll inducing and played out. She is quite possibly the most ridiculous, unnecessary and annoying character in the entire franchise. ENOUGH!

Ridiculous emotions

[TheLittleSongbird · 3/10 · 25 October 2022]

Have been doing a lot of rewatching over-time of the three big shows in the 'Law and Order' franchise, especially of the most regularly aired 'Special Victims Unit' (the longest running and the only one still running, though it has not been the same for a while). "Heightened Emotions" did nothing for me on first watch and did nothing to change my mind when it comes to disliking Rollins' family drama and the character of Kim, which has been the case in all the times they feature.

My negative first viewing opinion of "Heightened Emotions" hasn't changed at all on rewatch. Like the previous two episodes "Making a Rapist" and "Imposter", all the flaws noticed on first watch are even more problematic now (including everything with Rollins) and more issues were found on the way as well. It is a case of one guest performance being better than the episode itself, and it is a performance that deserved a much better episode.

That performance being the powerful one of Brit Morgan that wrenches the gut. The regulars do well with what they have, Raul Esparza always delivers and Kelli Giddish has come on a long way.

It is a solid episode visually, and the intimacy of the photography doesn't get static or too filmed play-like. The music when used is not too over-emphatic and has a melancholic edge that is quite haunting.

On the other hand, "Heightened Emotions" fails more than it succeeds. It is sunk by the whole Rollins story, which features far too heavily and has all the problems whenever her family life features. Which includes overwrought soap opera dialogue, very melodramatic and dragged out storytelling, Rollins' excessive naivety and of course the incredibly annoying Kim who also is overacted. Not to mention that it ties in with the case too conveniently while also feeling like filler.

When it comes to the rest of the story that also fails. The case itself is far too thin and is also ridiculous, certainly not strong enough to be prosecutable. Found it also too predictable and sleazy and the victim very unsympathetic. The dialogue is over heated and lacking in tautness and the pace feels dull and over-stretched. Not to mention the unrealistically over the top controlled meet scene, which was far from controlled and beyond silly.

Concluding, weak. 3/10.

Correction

[samcallan · 4/10 · 12 March 2018]

The episode is sort of weak, but it was inspired by real life Olympian Suzie Favor Hamilton who after her Olympic career turned into a high priced escort in Las Vegas.

Other reviewers say the Olympic Committee would never let her compete, but there would be nothing USA Track and Field or the USOC could do to prevent her from competing if she met the requirements. In track it is pretty straight forward in that if an athlete finishes in the top 3 at the Trials and has met the minimum height standards she would go.

Weak Script Spoils Good Performances

[greg-beaulieu · 3/10 · 23 January 2019]

The main victim in this episode comes across as a pretty unlikable character even despite the backstory that gets revealed near the end. It's a shame because Brit Morgan delivers a great acting job here. The secondary story with the Rollins sisters seemed superfluous although it conveniently dovetailed with the main story. Not the best episode despite Morgan's performance.

Olympic pole vaulter has interesting sideline

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 22 November 2017]

I think the SVU creators were really reaching for this story. It might be as another reviewer said an interesting character study, but the plot is off the wall.

SVU catches the case of a disheveled Brit Morgan who claims she was raped. But it turns out she has an interesting sideline as an escort. Every so often she goes into Manhattan from Queens and picks up men. When she picked up Theo Stockman she got assaulted as well as this guy likes to treat hookers very rough.

I can't see how this case was remotely prosecutable. But it's Kelli Giddish who figures out what her real issues are and there is resolution of a sort. She keeps training, but really our hidebound Olympic committee would never let her compete and endorsement deals are just plain toast.

Giddish also has her wayward sister back with her on parole. This story line will play out over the next few episodes. Lindsay Pulsipher says she's changed, but I want to see that.

Corny

[imanipaige · 2/10 · 7 July 2021]

This is by far the worst episode I've ever watched. Completely unrealistic, terrible acting. Truly awful.

SVU Scripts Continue Their Decline

[bkkaz · 3/10 · 18 September 2020]

One can see a pretty strong decline in SVU scripts by this point, away from episodes dealing with even modestly complex drama and titling more and more toward formulaic and often polemical melodrama. There are two stories here, not exactly running in parallel. The first concerns a trashy, manipulative sister for Rollins -- herself a character that vacillates between mopey and melodramatic -- who probably seemed like an ingredient that would "spice things up," that is if you think like a 17-year-old. Instead, she's mostly annoying. The second, more interesting story concerns an Olympic hopeful who wants to be an escort for reasons that are not entirely clear. She could be a complex character, with a complex motivation, but instead, seems merely an excuse to ask (yet, again) whether sex workers can be victims of assault (of course they can, something that should not only be obvious through common sense but from dozens of other SVU episodes). Worse, there's a tired gimmick that is meant to suggest her motivations but comes across like an after-school special. Dialogue is stilted and obvious in its connect-the-dots way of framing the story more as an editorial: "I don't want to be the kind of husband who checks up on his wife." Who actually talks like that? It's yet another SVU story where the men outside of SVU are either horrible, sneering villains (the nasally bland Wheeler) or mind-numbingly ignorant bystanders. SVU used to let the viewers come to some conclusions, but those days are gone.